The Enforcement Directorate (ED) has conducted searches at multiple locations in connection with the smuggling of foreign-origin areca nut (betel nut) into India through the Indo-Myanmar border.
The ED probe is based on 11 First Information Reports registered by the police in Assam and West Bengal. The cases allege the smuggling, transportation and sale of betel nut of Indonesian, Thai and Burmese origin. The consignments were brought into Mizoram through Myanmar and taken to West Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, and other States using forged Goods and Services Tax invoices, e-way bills, and transport documents. The firms allegedly involved in the smuggling were proprietorship concerns registered in the names of local residents of Champhai. Their GST registrations and bank accounts were allegedly set up, funded and operated by controllers based in Silchar in Assam, who retained the cheque books and banking credentials.
Champhai has no recorded production of areca nut and, until recently, Mizoram had no betel nut drying or processing units, the agency said.
The betel nut is collected in Champhai after being brought in through Zokhawthar and then trucked out of Mizoram via Vairengte to Silchar, according to the ED. “The consignments are shown as sales between a succession of shell firms registered in Mizoram and Assam, supported by invoices, e-way bills and transport documents describing the nut as Indian-origin produce,” it said, adding that the firms were closed and replaced once they drew the attention of enforcement agencies.
